MANCHESTER CITY 3, CHELSEA 0
Sergio Aguero opens the scoring but could have had four first half goals
Gary Cahill and Diego Costa need treatment after going down within minutes of each other at the end of the first half
John Terry is substituted at half time for the first time by Jose Mourinho
Vincent Kompany extends the lead late in the second half with another header
Fernandinho finishes off Chelsea with 5 minutes to go
Record attendance at expanded Etihad Stadium of 54,331
Second half goals by Vincent Kompany and Fernandinho finished off a tired looking Chelsea side who were already 1-0 down to a Sergio Aguero opener which had served to calm nerves at an expanded Etihad Stadium which hosted a record crowd of 54,331.
No wonder City manager Manuel Pellegrini was all smiles and fist pumps by the time he shook the hand of Jose Mourinho at full time with City running out convincing 3-0 winners – the first time that Mourinho had ever conceded more than one goal in a game in Manchester against City or United.
Pellegrini declared his satisfaction with the comprehensive defeat of the champions and said that 3-0 was the minimum that free scoring City deserved after a great first half which demonstrated the hunger and motivation of the City players to regain the title.
He said: “I think in the first half we deserved three or four goals. The second half was more equal and I only remember one save by Joe Hart and one more when we were 3-0 up.
He heaped praise on Sergio Aguero, the one change from the victory at the Hawthorns on Monday for Wilfried Bony, who could have single handedly put City into an unassailable first half lead as City carved out chances at will.
“Aguero was 100% fit – we had an unbelievable performance in the first half and only unbelievable saves by Asmir Begovic prevented him from scoring more.
“He’s in the best moment of his career and can do even better for us this season – he’s a top top player.”
The Chilean also praised City’s balanced approach, with Fernandinho rewarded for a complete game in midfield with a goal at the end.
He said: “We had more concentration in defending and have two clean sheets this season – we are a balanced team but we never changed our style.
“Fernandinho is working very hard from coming back, he wasn’t at his best last season since coming back from the World Cup. He is the player we bought 2 seasons ago.”
City’s spending summer spending spree many not be over. Reports of an imminent deal for Valencia defender Nicolas Otamendi were given the proverbial straight bat by Pellegrini.
Chelsea might also have strengthened through an imminent deal for Baba Rahman and a bid for Everton’s John Stones but Jose Mourinho dismissed City’s 3-0 scoreline as “fake”.
He said: “In the first half the best team was winning. In the second half the best team was Chelsea, but we didn’t score.
“We were punished by our mistakes in the second and third goals and we couldn’t capitalise on the second half.
He also added that Fernandinho’s elbow on Diego Costa deserved “a red card” and Yaya Toure deserved a second booking.
Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho also added that his captain John Terry was substituted for tactical reasons, citing the high line that helped Chelsea compete against City in the second half forced Pellegrini into defensive substitutions in the second half.
“When the game starts and ten seconds later you have Aguero behind the defensive line and facing Begovic the start was not good.
“I had to remove John to use Zouma in a high defensive line – he is the fastest of us – to play in a high block.”
In reply to a question about why captain John Terry was taken off and not Gary Cahill, who had received treatment in the first half, Mourinho gave a considered response:
“The point was to bring Zouma in, the point was to have my fastest player in, not to take Terry out.
“The armband is just an armband.
“I can tell you that he wasn’t dancing in the dressing room. He wasn’t having a bad reaction either.”
After all the theatrics from Stamford Bridge in the week leading up to this game in Manchester it was almost inevitable that medical attention would be required by Chelsea at the Etihad and so it came to pass as the first half came to a close.
Gary Cahill was thumped by Begovic who had come out to try and intercept Aleksandar Kolarov’s cross for Eliaquim Mangala whose header was wide of the empty net.
Cahill needed medical attention and City fans, who had already seen Sergio Aguero score a deserved opening goal minutes earlier, were merciless in their taunting.
“You’re getting sacked in the morning!” they called out to the staff attending to Cahill, while Mourinho heard the name of the banned doctor Eva Carneiro ringing in his ears.
Of course, Chelsea were duly reduced to nine men while Cahill was on the bylines after Diego Costa went down under a challenge by Fernandinho for which the Brazilian was booked. With Chelsea’s medical staff treating two players at the same time Mourinho probably didn’t know where to look as City’s medical team had come on to help and comically huge bandages were wrapped around Costa’s head and cotton wool was stuffed up Cahill’s nose all the while City fans made the most of the situation.
The drama wasn’t over as Costa didn’t even bother to disguise his attempt to remonstrate with Fernandinho as both players went down the tunnel at half time with team mates from both sides knowing enough to get between the two players.
City dominated the opening quarter of the game and should have gone into the lead after just 22 seconds when Sergio Aguero latched onto a superb through ball by David Silva but saw his shot saved by the Asmir Begovic with his legs.
The Argentine may have been forgiven for being ring-rusty after a short pre-season but he was more than matched by Chelsea’s ‘keeper who made a further three stunning saves to deny City the lead in the 9th, 16th and 17th minutes, when firstly Aguero toe-ended an Aleksandar Kolarov cross into the arms of Begovic and then great crosses by Kolarov and Jesus Navas were met by Aguero who was thwarted each time by a diving save from Begovic.
Begovic looked beaten when Kolarov sent in yet another cross for Aguero but the Argentine scuffed his effect wide from six yards with the Chelsea ‘keeper seemingly wrong footed.
Throughout all this, Chelsea were a shadow of their usual selves with Nemanja Matic bemused by the passing and movement of City and Jose Mourinho becoming increasingly unamused by the events unfolding.
John Terry was withdrawn from the firing line for the first time in 177 games in favour of the added pace of Kurt Zouma while Nemanja Matic finally started to look like the player of last season but Ramires’ 50th minute attempted equaliser was adjudged offside.
City were undeterred and Yaya Toure could have extended the lead in the 61st minute when he drove Navas’ cut back at Begovic while Aguero slipped and fired wide four minutes later.
Chelsea finally recorded their first shot on target in the 70th minute when City finally seemed to run out of players to get their bodies in the way with Fernandinho down injured in midfield but Eden Hazard’s shot was blocked by Joe Hart while Costa’s attempted follow-up was cleared by Mangala who had got back into position.
A 1-0 lead might have looked slim on paper despite City’s dominance but they finally gave the scoreline a more accurate look after Silva’s corner was headed in by Vincent Kompany in the 79th minute at the back post which was crucially unguarded by Chelsea.
City finally put the visitors out of their misery five minutes later when Silva charged down an attempt to clear the ball by Branislav Ivanovic. The ball fell to Fernandinho whose rocket of a shot finally put the game to bed.